Tangled Fates

by Carly Fall

  Since the bullet had penetrated just below the shoulder blade, there had been some

  fragmental damage to the shoulder itself, and Cohen found it difficult to do much of anything

  with his left arm. “I think I need some help. Please.”

  Annis scooted closer and picked up the soup. “I’m not very good at taking care of

  others,” she said with a shy smile. “So I shall do my best and apologize in advance for any soup I

  may spill on you.”

  The first spoonful of broth made it to his lips, and the hot liquid burned but tasted

  surprisingly good.

  “How’s that?” she asked.

  As he stared into her glowing eyes just a few inches away from his, he wondered if the

  ache in his chest was love for Annis. It was different from what he felt for Mia, but it was an

  ache just the same. Not that it mattered—he knew he could never do anything about it. He

  needed to honor his vow to Mia.

  Before he knew what he was doing, he lifted his good hand and gently touched her face.

  Her breath hitched, but she didn’t flinch. Even with a fever his SR44 male roared, wanting her.

  He brought his hand back down to his lap and nodded.

  Another spoonful of soup was brought to his lips. This went on for a few minutes in

  silence. He stared at Annis as she concentrated on the soup. It was a nice moment, Cohen

  decided. In fact, it was one of the best moments he had experienced in his two hundred twelve

  years on Earth. It was simple and pure, one being taking care of another.

  Maybe that was what he had been subconsciously looking for when he had been with all

  those human women. Someone to take care of him, and someone he could do the same. Instead,

  he just got the physical relationship. What he was experiencing with Annis, of all people, was

  what he had been searching for, and it reminded him of the way him and Mia used to take care of

  each other. She had been his true partner as they walked through life together.

  His thoughts took him back to one particularly stressful healing session in the forest. A

  female had brought her child to him. Cohen had put his energy into the boy, yet after an hour of

  intense searching for the cause of illness, he couldn’t find one. The mother had become irate, as

  her sohma, or son, was indeed ill. Cohen could sense the illness—he just couldn’t pinpoint it—

  and if he couldn’t pinpoint it, he couldn’t heal it.

  He had returned to their forest abode, exhausted and distraught. What type of Healer was

  he if he couldn’t even find a cause for the illness? The desperate pleas of the mother rang in his

  ears, as did her angry vitriol.

  Mia had been there to comfort him in his insecurity, and also talk some sense into him.

  “You are not a god, Cohen,” she had said, as she tangled part of her smoky form with his, as if

  she were holding his hand. “You have your gift, and you use it to the best of your abilities. You

  cannot help everyone. Our world is not set up that way.”

  And she had been right. He did what he could for those he could help, and he did it well.

  He studied Annis as she dipped the spoon into the Styrofoam container. “I meant what I

  said on the street, Annis,” he said quietly. “Every word.”

  Annis nodded and finally met his eyes. “I know you did, Cohen, and I thank you for

  explaining yourself to me. How you treated me was wrong, but at least I understand why a little

  better.”

  He wanted to take her head in his hands and kiss her beautiful lips.

  Instead, he got more soup. A noodle slipped off the spoon and they both watched it as it

  snaked its way down his smooth, skin to the resting place just above the waistband of his pants.

  “I’m sorry,” Annis said quietly.

  The sexual tension between them had grown. Did Annis feel it?

  Slowly, she reached out, her hand going for the noodle. As her fingers came in contact

  with his skin, a moan escaped his throat and an erection popped in his pants. Her touch lingered a

  few seconds longer than necessary, then she pulled away, bringing her gaze to his.

  Neither said anything, and Cohen fisted the sheet to keep himself right where he was,

  fever and gunshot wound forgotten.

  Slowly, Annis leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. She pulled back as if she had

  just kissed a rattlesnake and brought her hand to her mouth, surprise crossing her face. After a

  brief moment, she brought her mouth to his again, her lips moving hesitantly over his, and it felt

  so right, so good.

  Her hand caressed his cheek and moved down to his shoulder. He let go of the sheet and

  took her head in his hands, his brain screaming to push her away, his body telling him otherwise

  as it was consumed with flames of desire.

  He wanted a taste, just a small taste. Something that he could remember and think about

  in the future, something that would perhaps bring a smile to his face, or quench a bout of

  loneliness. Just a small taste and then he would stop this. He parted her lips with his tongue, and

  another moan rose from his throat. She tasted like cinnamon.

  Before he was a goner, which would be at any God-given second, he pulled away. Annis

  opened her eyes, confused.

  “We can’t do this,” Cohen said in a hoarse whisper. “I want to, but we can’t.”

  Annis said nothing, but disappointment flashed across her face.

  “I . . . I made an oath. Right after I found out Mia died, I made an oath that I would honor

  my mating vows for the rest of my existence.”

  “A Tambaran?” Annis asked, pulling away.

  “Yes.”

  She studied his chest and stomach as though she was looking for the scars, but none were

  there.

  She turned away.

  “Annis . . . I—”

  “There is nothing to say, Cohen. Thank you for telling me where I stand.”

  She got up and disappeared into the next room.

  Chapter 31

  Annis sat on the couch listening to Cohen’s soft breathing coming from the next room.

  She didn’t know if he slept or sat in thought.

  A tear trickled down her face as she touched her lips. The kiss she had shared with Cohen

  had been the kiss Liberty described to her. When their lips met, her whole body had crackled, her

  heart raced, and heat flowed through her as if her blood was on fire.

  She had found the passion that she hadn’t experienced with Blake.

  Perhaps she was destined to travel through life alone. Surely, there were many people

  who did this, whether through their own accord or if they just couldn’t find a partner in life. If

  she were one of these people, she would have to accept it.

  She had been surrounded by people her whole life, yet she was alone. As she walked

  SR44’s bustling city streets as a child, she had been swallowed up by the hustle and flurry of the

  golden cities, yet in a world of her own. It was the same in the military. Yes, she had been

  accepted, but as the only female there hadn’t been any bonding with anyone. She was spoken to

  when needed.

  Annis had a friend in Liberty, and the other females in the house. However, they were all

  happily mated and wanted to spend great deals of time with their respective mates, which Annis

  understood, and envied.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned her head and looked into the bedroom. Cohen lay on his

  side, his brow furrowed. Sh
e wondered if dreams troubled him or if it was pain.

  One did not break a Tambaran, especially a Warrior. To do so would mean shame

  beyond words. The oath couldn’t be broken, but the one who the oath was made for could release

  it. Mia was dead, so there was no way for that to happen.

  Sighing, she lay down on the couch, hoping sleep would overtake her quickly.

  Chapter 32

  Blake paced the War Room in the Phoenix silo waiting for everyone to gather.

  Now that he had time to calm down a bit, he realized that the best course of action was

  certainly not to go in with guns blazing. First, they had nowhere to blaze into, but hopefully

  Talin would be able to take care of that with the tracking on Blake’s phone.

  They needed to sit down and try to talk some sense into these idiot fuckers. It wasn’t only

  their belief that the Six Saviors were responsible for the decimation of SR44 that needed to be

  addressed, but also the fact that those cocksuckers were running around killing humans and

  carving the SR44 language into their backs.

  Blake and Talin had taken a look around deep within the FBI files on the web, but

  nothing had been mentioned about the case. Either they hadn’t put the file into the computer yet,

  or it was buried so deep Blake and Talin couldn’t find it.

  “Hey, man,” Noah said, entering the room, his orange eyes blazing. “How’re you doing?

  Last time we talked you were pretty jacked up.”

  Blake nodded. “Yeah, I was cranked. I’m solid now, though. My head’s on straight and

  I’m thinking clearly.”

  Noah clapped him on the shoulder. “Good. We need clear-headed thinking, not knee-jerk

  reaction.”

  “I-I’m just worried about Annis.”

  Noah was silent for a moment. “Most of us are worried about both Annis and Cohen.”

  Right. Cohen. He tried to manage a little worry for the guy, but fell short.

  “Of course.”

  Thankfully, the conversation ended with the rumbles of deep male voices coming down

  the hall. Blake took his seat and waited for the rest to do the same.

  “Okay, guys, let’s get this meeting started,” Noah said, and everyone went quiet. “So,

  here’s where we are. Micah wants to mount my head over his fireplace. He’d like to use the rest

  of you as fertilizer on his roses. We’re all here waiting for the call from Annis, but I’d like to

  kind of get some thoughts on our next step and iron out a couple of possible plans.”

  “I say we get the trace and take them all out,” Hudson said.

  “If there’s a way to resolve this peacefully, then I’d like to head down that road,” Rayner

  said.

  “Agreed,” said Jovan.

  Hudson rolled his eyes and mumbled “pussies” under his breath.

  “Let’s look at the layout of the land,” Talin said, who had showered two days in a row

  now. “According to Annis, Cohen’s been shot, and my guess is that he doesn’t have any of his

  voodoo powder with him or it wouldn’t have been brought up as an issue. If we go in like we’re

  Ares, not only is there a good chance we’ll get hurt, but there’s an even better probability that

  Cohen ends up dead.”

  “Who’s Ares?” Rayner asked.

  Talin rolled his eyes. “God of War, Rayner.”

  “Don’t you eye-roll me, my friend. I haven’t bothered to take the time to study human

  mythology.”

  “Greek.”

  “What?”

  “Greek mythology, Rayner!” Talin said, exasperated.

  “What-fucking-ever. Don’t eye-roll me again.”

  “Okay, guys, knock it off,” Noah said. “Let’s get back on track. And, Rayner, you should

  read up on Greek mythology. You’d love it. Anyway, I’m kind of lining up behind Rayner and

  Jovan on this one. I say we try to resolve it peacefully.”

  “Jovan and Blake tried to play nice in that sandbox, and both agreed that The Platoon

  didn’t have any trouble pissing on the shovels,” Hudson said.

  “Well, we also need to address the fact that they are killing humans,” Noah said, “and

  find out why.”

  “And if they were all dead, all problems would be solved.”

  Noah exhaled loudly and studied the table in front of him. “I agree, Hudson,” he said in a

  quiet voice, “but I just can’t bring myself to willingly kill five of my own kind. There aren’t

  anymore of us left.”

  A deafening silence settled over the table.

  Blake cleared his throat. “Well, I would suggest that if you want to have a sit-down with

  them, we pick the spot and a time so we can relay it to them.”

  Noah nodded. “I was thinking—”

  Blake’s phone blared, the ringtone of Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” What the hell? Last time

  his phone rang, it had been a good old-fashioned phone-ringing sound. How the . . . ?

  He didn’t have time to think about it, but he registered the smirks around the table as

  Talin got up and headed for the bank of computers in the corner.

  “Hello?” Blake said.

  “Hello, Blake,” Annis said in a quiet voice.

  He was relieved to hear her voice, yet he could detect the strain in it. “Hey, Annis. You

  okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “And Cohen?”

  “He’s alive.” There was a low voice in the background, then she said, “Micah wants to

  know when you intend to hand over Noah.”

  Blake looked over at Noah. There hadn’t been a plan set into place, so he was going by

  the seat of his pants. He had a feeling that if he stalled until they could get a plan in place, it

  wouldn’t bode well for Cohen or Annis.

  He checked his watch. They needed somewhere public, yet private.

  “Put it on speakerphone, Blake,” Noah said.

  Blake set down the phone and hit the speakerphone button.

  “Can you hear me, Annis?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Her voice sounded far away and tinny.

  “Hi Annis, it’s Noah. How’re you holding up? How’s Cohen?”

  Everyone strained forward to hear. “Cohen is hurt badly, Noah. I am fairing okay. Micah

  would like to . . . meet you.”

  “Is Cohen going to make it?”

  Before Annis had a chance to answer, they heard Micah say, “Give me that phone.”

  They waited.

  “Who is this?” Micah asked.

  Blake’s anger flared, and he couldn’t resist fucking with the guy.

  “Hey, Micah. Dude. How are you? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. This is

  Blake.”

  There was silence.

  “We met at the Black Cuff a while back. Maybe ten months or so. How are you, man?”

  Jovan laughed silently, and Rayner and Hudson grinned. Noah had his head in his hands.

  “I want to talk to Noah.”

  Noah’s gaze pierced the phone. “Hey, Micah. It’s Noah. I’ve heard a lot about you, and

  I’m looking forward to meeting you. I was hoping that could be tonight.”

  “Noah! The one male responsible for the decimation of our beloved planet!” Micah was

  yelling now. “I’m going to kill both Annis and Cohen, and then it’s your turn. It was because of

  you and the Saviors that our home is no more, and I intend to make you pay for your treachery! I

  will deal you a very slow and painful—”

  Noah stood up, anger coming off him in waves. “You listen to me, you crazy

  motherfucker!” Noah
yelled. “You go ahead and kill them! I don’t give a shit! He’s a male

  without a mate, and she’s got a defective body! They’re no good to me, so put a bullet in their

  heads and it will save me the trouble of having to meet your ass!”

  Oh, Christ. Blake knew what Noah was doing. Cohen and Annis were Micah’s only

  leverage of getting his hands on Noah, and if they were dead, his chances of ever laying an eye

  on Noah were gone.

  But sweet Jesus. That was some hardcore bargaining. Blake looked around the table, a

  knot of worry settling in his gut. If anything happened to Annis . . .

  All the Warriors stared at Noah in disbelief.

  Noah stared straight ahead at the screen, waiting to see what would happen.

  Micah was silent. “Meet me at the Black Cuff tonight at ten. Don’t be late, Savior.”

  Noah’s shoulders sagged a little, and he closed his eyes. “Fine. I’ll see you then.”

  He pushed the off button and tossed the phone back to Blake. “Let me know if you get a

  trace on that, Talin,” he said, then strode out of the room.

  Rayner let out a low whistle.

  “Holy shit,” Jovan muttered.

  Hudson nodded. “Yep. That’s why the guy is in charge. He’s got the triple-B’s.”

  “What’s that?” Blake asked.

  “Big. Brass. Balls.”

  Chapter 33

  Annis woke to male voices overhead, then footsteps moved across the floor. The door at

  the top of the stairwell opened, and the heavy pounding of boots came down the steps. She stood

  to meet whoever it was, and Micah turned the corner with Jael and Simon.

  “Hello, Annis,” Micah said.

  She said nothing, but crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the giant.

  “Let’s go. Upstairs. We’re going to have some fun.”

  She didn’t know what “fun” he had planned, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

  He reached out and grabbed her arm so tightly, she yelled out.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Cohen growled from the other room, coming to his feet.

  “Get your paws off her. Now.”

  “Ah, the Savior is awake! Wonderful! You can watch the fun!”

  Cohen slowly moved into the room. “And what fun would that be?”

  Micah walked up to Cohen so that they were almost chest-to-chest. He towered above

  Cohen by a few inches and bested him by about forty pounds, but to Cohen’s credit he didn’t